GARDEN CARE SIMPLIFIED my first hand experience with Terrace Container Gardening over the years with original photographs is shared in this Blog as also simple practical tips for flowering in varieties of plants. My Terrace garden plants are a part of my family, I care for them with food, water and lots of love and spanking!and they bless me with lovely blooms!
This is my passion, I Do not sell plants! Happy Gardening!

With spring setting in the climate has been looking great and the plant is also looking healthy with a nice welcoming spot near the entrance receiving sunlight and lots of love!.

Healthy Raat Ki Rani Plant

The plant has been watered once a week and looks great, but as the temperatures may rise watering is required more frequenly.
Here we have to even water our plants twice a day on some hot days now or daily. With the climate at your place I think you will have to increase the waterings.

White spots on leaves of Raat Ki Rani plant

The white spots appearing on leaves are a sign of :-
1) watering during afternoons or hot times when the leaves are hot and you sprinkle water over them.
2) Too much fertilizer in soil for getting many blooms.
3) Tiny black insects eating up, observe the back side of the plant for black eggs. wash the plant thoroughly and remove all eggs.
4) sign of distress, change of place or environment.
5) Usually when there are new green leaves coming up there is no need to worry.

Close up of leaves of Raat ki Rani plant

This fragrant night blooming plant Raat ki rani I have noticed requires a perfect place only then will it bloom and also give out fragrance. The right amount of sunlight, and shade and also right amount of watering.
We have lost many plants due to either over watering or under watering. The last one had loved a small sneaky corner of the garden and loved this place. It later on went to bloom but without fragrance. The nourishment also has to be taken care of as too much again puts the plant in distress and leaves start yellowing and dropping, at such times water the plant regularly to wash off the excess fertilizer faster so that the plant recovers fast.

While the mogra plant has taken to full blooming loaded with lots of fragrant flowers so also the rajni gandha, tube rose, with its long elongated flowering stem, it is sad that we lost our orange plant which was with us for many many years. Will have to wait if lucky that the seeds may spring up with a surprise in rains. The hot season does require special care for the plants and though now I have selected plants judiciously and grown in large containers only those that can grow well and absorb the direct heat during Thane summers! the anthuriums have burst into lovely exotic pink flowers and the peace lily is about to burst with beautiful serene white hood like blooms. but still the obsessive gardener indulges in impulsive shopping of flowering plants and many small planters find a place in unknown spots in our garden and learn to survive among the family.

Mogra in Full Bloom

All the Best Latha and Take Care and God Bless!
Thanks for the share.
Have a Great Day! www.razarts.com

Friday, March 14, 2014

The bestest feeling, a natural wonder in natures show, the adenium pods, which i have till date collected had rice shaped seeds, but this time I let it mature in the open on the plant, and was awe struck by the beauty of this pod. In the early ten o'clock sun the seed pod naturally burst in front of me into a magical silky ball, and the little ones were fast to run off everywhere, going along with the wind.
This is natures way of helping the plant to spread wide and around the world. With so much positive chi and the silky soft furry ball of seeds it was a magical morning. The fellows were so fats I nearly had to run to collect them and the feel was great. The softness of silk, the furry hair, and the protected seeds inside. Each seed was dry and covered with the silky soft hair.
They were as if alive and running everywhere fast and with one swift traveled to the whole house , with me after them. It was difficult to hold them in hand due to the silky softness and with another pod bursting I had my hands full. am very very happy with this gift,
1) While collecting seeds of adenium it is very important to let the seed pod mature otherwise the seeds are not dried properly and will not sprout into new plants.
2) Sow the seeds after drying them in hot sun so that they get the push to sprout fast.
3) Collect the seeds from the seed pod in paper bags and label them carefully without damaging the husk of the seeds.
4) If you wish to store or collect the seeds for after use, store in dry and dark place so that the Adenium plant seeds are not damaged.
5) The plant though considered a very auspicious good luck plant, and mostly grown indoors, actually requires sunlight to flower well and our plant has given lots of blooms only after being under direct sun.

Furry silky seed pod of adenium

Soft silky seed pod of Adenium flower plant

How to collect Adenium seeds

Close up of Adenium plant seeds

soft silky adenium seeds

close up of adenium seeds

close up of single adenium plant seed

The magical seed of adenium plant

Collecting adenium plant seeds from pod

Hope we get to see many healthy Adenium plants soon, as these are rare plants and also quite costly.
Thank You! Take Care and God Bless!www.razarts.com

Monday, March 3, 2014

Succulent Tropical Kalanchoe plant, so many variates of beautiful succulents are available, each with different unique colorful flowers.
Succulents are easy to grow but I have not had much of luck with them and finally have decided to keep buying succulents till I get the right growth techniques and formula for flowering!. The ones recently added to our family are near dying maybe because of the direct sunlight they face over the terrace garden. I have tried something different by placing the pots on the outside window sill of our Kitchen window so that they receive indirect sunlight from early sunrise.
Bit I guess they need sunlight also to grow healthy. As for watering, the rains, unexpected during last month have done the damage.The succulents plants have fleshy leaves . The growth patterns was similar to the early succulents bought over the years. Fleshy green leaves in different green shades from light green to greyish green to dark green , oval shaped, tear drop shaped or round shaped growing in circular pattern.
The flowering also quite similar fashion, a single stem comes up with bunches of tiny flowers, what is different and unique each plant gives different shaded flowers. I am so fascinated with the beauty of these succulents, vermillon red flowers look great against the greenery of the garden.
Two beautiful flowering succulents one with vibrant vermillon red flowers and the other with peachy pink flowers, growing in the same style, fleshy oval shaped green leaves, the elongated stem coming up with tiny vibrant flowers growing in bunches.

Single Long Stem with vibrant red flowers in bunch

Beautiful small red flowers in bunches

Succulents plants have unique showy flowers, ranging from light red, to pinks, white , shaded pink and white, off white, creamy yellow and white, to the brightest red. Hence succulents are always loved ones and also selected for the less care required.

Lovely red flowers succulent plants

Succulent plant care

close up of red flowers on succulent plants

Caring for succulents- Water carefully , never over water but always water regularly. Well draining soil is a must as the root system is very weak. I have had to put rocks above the container as support to the heavy flower laden stalk to hold the stem in place.
Sunlight is a tricky aspect, as I have learned, too much and the leaves dry off and less the plant goes mushy and stems falls off.
These plants after flowering are nearly dead, or look so, and then gradually the leaves start coming as tiny greens , at this time when watered more or very less the plant dies off. Insects and bugs love this fleshy leaves plant, very common to see holes in succulents plant leaves.
The roots are very less and the plant does not grow deep so it also falls off from containers with its own weight.
The good part is it succulent plants do not die easily the tiny stems also start another new plant when given the right conditions and soil for growth.
People boast of succulents as easy growers but i have not had much luck with them, The jade plants we have lost , and different calanchoe plants, though the last year one is still somewhere trying to pull off with tiny leaves. The beautiful healthy silver jade is what we have in two containers, beautiful grey colored fleshy leaves, each leave giving out tiny grey colored roses shaped leaves at the edge of a leaf. the beauty is that the leaf dangling over the pot also survives only on water and still gives out roots that grow side of the original parent plant, I have to keep it in place within a few days as this one loves to travel!

Adding fertilizers I think may help. As for the beautiful ones the one tropical Kalanchoe plant is surviving with single stem and no leaves, they have fallen off due to heat and unexpected shower of rain last month.
Enjoying full sunlight I hope this one recovers fast!

Succulents are often chosen due to
the sheer reason of beauty and unique showy flowers. And with this many more succulents
are in way to add up to our family, will buy some more till I get the hang of growing
succulents, maybe they will return some of the love back!